Superpowers: The Rise Of Russia And The United States

The Soviet Union was on the winning side of World War II. They had allied with Great Britain and the United States. This alliance was more one of self-preservation,

Moreover the USSR began to have impact in Eastern Europe. Leaders from the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union met to discuss what to do with Europe. They agreed for the

In the Second World War USA and its western allies like Britain, France and so forth needed the help of Soviet Union to combat Nazi Germany. “Indeed, the western democracies could not have defeated Germany except the unlimited support of those Soviet troops which in 1945 occupied all areas in dispute.”(Graebner, 1976) However, after the war, the Soviet-American unity collapsed following the Yalta Conference of February 1945, largely over the issue of Poland. As a result, USSR established what Churchill termed as ‘iron curtain’ from Stettin to Trieste.

In 1945 after WWII the United States and the Soviet Union became divided as far as how they felt Europe should be divided. This began the period of conflict called the Cold War. The Cold War was “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare”(dictionary.com).The USSR believed in communism, where the US believed in democracy. The US was between two potentially hostile nations, the US designed a Buffer Zone to prevent any overt acts of aggression.At the end of WWI,I almost all of the eastern European countries were occupied by Russia these countries were known as Satellite States. The distrust between the two nations began at the Yalta Conference which included the three big powers: Churchill (Great Britain),Stalin (Soviet Union), and Roosevelt (United States of America). Stalin wanted more control as far how Europe progressed after WWII, where Roosevelt believed Europe should hold free election and determine their political system and rivalry between the two superpowers and began the Cold War. Some might blame the Americans for the causing for the Cold War because of the American’s wanted to occupy the countries, but the Soviet Union bares the responsibility for the Cold War because of their actions in Eastern Europe, by the military expansionism of Stalin and his successors, and the principles presented in the Iron Curtain Speech .

After World War II came the development of another tension that involved the United States and the Soviet Union and their associated allies. The Cold War produced many dilemmas amongst the American people in terms of how they should comport themselves as a nation. Before World War II the United States had no interest in keeping a strong military system, nor did they send out troops outside of their borders. Also, they kept to themselves as a nation not minding the actions of other countries. Until after that war is when the country started to contradict their original goals and the tables completely turned. Eventually thousands of American soldiers were being shipped off worldwide and the country was prepared with nuclear weapons to protect themselves from their enemies. The Cold War intensified the internal issues for the United States no matter how successful the country was with distracting its people with new technologies, there were still underlying problems. The Americans wanted to show the rest of the world that they were indeed united and should be looked at as a model of democracy and individual rights. This is where the issues began, because the citizens of the United States knew that they themselves were not carrying out the equality they expected the rest of the world to follow. They had a newfound dilemma; prosperity of their country was intertwined with

For instance, in the "By Any Means" speech by John Foster he states, "If the communist forces won uncontested control over Indochina or any substantial part thereof, they would surely resume the same pattern of aggression against other free peoples in the area.." Therefore, the U.S wanted communism by becoming a threat and causing war and between the United States and the Soviet Union the cold war affected Europe because communism was spreading. The Cold War began as World War 2 was ending. The Cold War was a rivalry between the United States as leader of the western democracies, and the Soviet Union and the nations that were controlled by the

World War II shocked and dismantled many Eastern European countries leaving Europe in a state of shock, with many unanswered, open ended questions. Buildings were blown up, streets cracked, people slaughtered, and governments destroyed. As turmoil struck Eastern Europe, an opportunity arose for a new political system to come into power. However, this process is never a simple one; two common political ideologies fought to control the heart of Europe. Capitalism led by the Western Allies, funded by the United States Marshall Plan, spread providing a short time of economic prosperity. The American’s plan however could not venture as far east as West Germany with Moscow’s direction of Communism led by Joseph Stalin and he took over a large portion of Eastern Europe with many open statements and empty promises. These two ideologies caused an enlarged time of tension stemming from the drastically different values they were known to embrace, leading to a horrific time known as the cold war.

When World II ended it brought about a period of mistrust and uneasiness between the United States and the Soviet Union. Communism and democracy were two totally different types of governments which ran the two most powerful countries in the world. These two countries were the US and the USSR. When the Second World War ended it brought about the Cold War.

The United States and the Soviet Union had fought together as allies against Nazi Germany during World War II. When the war had ended, the Soviet Union had maintained a large presence in much of Eastern and Central Europe. Communist governments, allied with the Soviet Union, were soon established within this region. Winston Churchill, who had served as British Prime Minister during World War II, had warned that an “iron curtain” divided Western and Eastern Europe. He was fearful communism would spread through war-torn Europe. The United States and the Soviet Union were now engaged in a new period of conflict, later known as the Cold War. The United States had provided assistance to Europe in an effort to contain Soviet

Emerging as the victors of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States became the most notorious superpowers in modern world history. They dominated the globe economically, politically, and militarily. Although the USSR and the United States worked together to defeat Nazism and Japanese Imperialism in the 1930s and 1940s, they were weary of each other. For example, the USSR employed a communist, government controlled economy, and arguably an authoritarian system of government, meanwhile the United States had a free-market capitalistic democracy. Having two world powers with opposing political and economic systems caused major international complications.

In 1947, after Harry Truman took over as President, was when tensions between the USSR and the United States finally sprung into what is now known as the Cold War. The spread of communism throughout Eastern Europe, China and Korea made Americans feel threatened by their increasing power and influence. Even after the war the United States continued operation in military bases which had the initial intent to protect against further Nazi advancement into Western Europe. Post-World War II these bases seemed to serve the purpose of maintaining a presence where their greatest perceived threat continued to grow. On the opposite side of the Cold War conflict, Josef Stalin and the Soviets grew ever more wary of the United States, who still were the country with Nuclear weapon capabilities at the time. So when Stalin called for the manufacturing of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (Gatland, Kenneth. Manned Spacecraft, Second Revision. 1976. Pg 100) a viscous cycle ensued. For every technological advancement either the United States or USSR made from 1947 until the end of the 1960’s, the other would try to match or beat it with the justification that it was in the best interests of national security. The United States had its first successful ICBM in 1957 (Hall, Rex; David J. Shayler. The Rocket Men: Vostok & Voskhod, The First Soviet Manned Spaceflights. Pg 56) and once the Soviet’s developed their first successful Nuclear weaponry in 1949,

The time period between 1945 and 1991 is considered to be the era of the Cold War. The Cold War, known as the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, each known during this time as the "super powers". This conflict consisted of the differing attitudes on the ideological, political, and military interests of these two states and their allies, exte nded around the globe. A common political debate covers the issue of who, if anyone won the Cold War. Many believe the United States won the Cold War since (it) had resulted in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. While others are to believe the United States had not won it as much as the Soviet Union had lost it since they feel Reagan did not end the Cold War, but that

Following World War II, the United States and the Former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) changed roles from Allies to enemies. The

To have a balanced argument, it must be examined the influence that the Soviet Union had in this period. It can best be described in two parts – firstly the solidification of the communist states in Eastern Europe for example Czechoslovakia. In 1948, Josef Stalin approved a plan by the Czechoslovakian communists to seize power in the only democratic state left in Eastern Europe . This was shown as making a point that the Eastern European states will remain communist and he would make sure that they did. An example from the 1950’s is the October 1956 Revolution against communism in Hungary. Russian tanks had stormed into Budapest and with the support of the AVN (Soviet backed Hungarian Secret Police) brought Communism back into Hungary . To make a comparison, Stalin and the Soviet Union had in essence, a policy of expansion – to spread communism throughout the world. The USA on the other hand, wanted to try to contain

Sometimes these decisions were not for the well being of other nations that depended on the Soviet Union for support. Nations like Hungary, Bulgaria, and Poland were under Soviet control, but were officially still independent nations.